Hello, I know that this is slightly off topic.
Why would an artist be an idiot for destroying the original file of the LE?. Print makers do it all the time after the edition is printed and there peers don't feel they're idiots. Photographers are in a sense print makers, instead of metal, wood or stone plates we use film or digital capture and traditional or digital output. I personally believe if you want to go back and reprint an image with new technology that's fine. Then don't make it a LE. Print open editions and tweak it all you want as new papers and inks come about. I give a lot of thought to making a image a LE. Yes, I'm limiting the income from that image because of low number available, but I'm selling to collectors who pay for that rarity. Also I'm always creating new images.
There is a possibility that certain images in our files may become historically/culturally important in the passage of time. I have images from when I did dance, performance photography and photojournalism. These images may have historical/cultural value and may go to a museum or educational institution in the future. Hopefully before I die. I avoid using images from these files to create LE images. That is not to say that some of these images may not be incorporated into a collage, mixed media piece or used in a exhibition and sold as Open Edition pieces. In any case these negatives/digital files are stored for that possibility.
Most of the work on the festival circuit is decorative art, that is landscapes, still lifes,
abstracts and etc. That is not to say that those images could not have historical/cultural value in the future. But even though these images are unique and we've put in a lot of time and effort; a lot of these images will wind up in a yard sale in 10-20 years as the buyers move, die or redecorate. I believe that if the festival wants a certain percentage of the work in the booth to be originals or LE's that's fine, I can work with that. I've done shows where all the either 25% of the work or all the work has to be originals or LE's. As I said on another forum, we all have images in our inventory that haven't ever sold or we're hesitant about. Make them LE's and use them for the shows that request that some of work has to be LE's. They might sell out.
Photographers are the only artists who have issues about Limited Edition images. We're always trying to find a way around LE requirements for festivals. We want to change the size, use a different paper, a different ink, tone it or do a alternative process, crop it differently. Yes, there is no law per say about LE's. But even the US Copy Right Office states that a LE is limited to less than 5 copies or 300 or less if numbered and the individual author is owner of the copyright. Some state like NY do have statues about LE's.
"Laws Passed in 14 States
Currently 14 states statutes require print disclosure information to appear on all COA. This means that anyone who intends to sell limited edition prints on a national basis must conform to these disclosure statutes. Even states which have not passed specific statutes could still prosecute publishers and artists who market their prints in a manner which would deceive the public. They could do so under the general police powers of the state or under a variety of consumer protection statutes.
Many of the state statutes require the same information while other state laws require additional information. It is not surprising that there are probably as many COA's as there are publishers. All created with the best intentionsÂ…Albeit non-conforming."
See full 2002 article: http://apa.pmai.org/standards.html
The bottom line LE is just that a unique image that is printed in one size in a limited number and will not be printed again in anyform. Print makers do this with no issues originally because the plates where hand engraved/itched and degraded after a number of impressions where pulled. The damaged plate was then canceled/destroyed. Even with the new printing technologies used in printmaking and photography allow us to make unlimited exact copies. It doesn't change what a LE print is. Serious collectors are knowledgeable about the technology and my experience has been if you say your image is a LE of 100. They expect it to be that and will pay for that assurance. I know of artists who have been sued because they reissued a image in new size and larger edition or made an Open Edition a LE. One case was mentioned in Art Business News several years ago.
Well enough, it's 2007 and as photographers/artists we are going use the creative and marketing tools that will bring us personal, creative and financial satisfaction.
Posted by: "Dennis W. Manasco" dmanasco@... dmanasco
Tue Jan 2, 2007 1:59 am (PST) At 10:12 PM +0000 12/30/06, yoelisd2003 wrote:
>When you print limited edition photos, you destroy the original file?
Yep.
Just like Ansel killed the neg. of that church-moonrise thingie.*
NOT.
Anyone who destroys original source is an idiot.
If history proves the original source useless then there was simply a
waste of space by saving it.
If the photograph becomes esthetically, or historically, important
then saving it's earliest and most complete reproduction is an
essential act.
99.99% of us won't raise an eyebrow when our work is seen x years in
the future.
That doesn't mean that the remaining 0.01% shouldn't preserve their
original negatives/files for future technological advances.
Reproduction technology is progressing at an almost asymptotic pace.
I think that within ten years we will be able to make prints that
make today's look as comparatively primitive as those made from '80s
dot-matrixes.
-=-Dennis
*(Though I heard he hated it by the time he died. He'd printed it so
often -- and printing it was a bear -- that he felt like he was on a
printing production-line with it and all the other photos people
wanted...)
Peace,
Sálongo Lee
Photographer
<http://salongolee.com>
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Re: limited Edition.
2007-01-02 by salongo lee